


Car Accident

by nepenthe_writer



Series: Meet Ugly [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Car Accidents, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-16
Updated: 2020-01-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:48:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22282102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nepenthe_writer/pseuds/nepenthe_writer
Summary: When Tony doesn't look where he's going when he backs out of his parking space, he winds up running into someone. Not the best way to meet someone for the first time.
Relationships: Loki/Tony Stark
Series: Meet Ugly [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1603822
Comments: 10
Kudos: 154





	Car Accident

**Author's Note:**

> I have been in a bit of a writing funk lately. This has been sitting in my folder for almost two months now waiting to be edited so I can post it. It might not be my best work but hopefully getting this out there will help get me back on track again.

The purr of the engine from his car was the nicest thing that Tony had heard all day long. He had spent the morning going from meeting to meeting between the shareholders, board of directors, and company lawyers. SI was the largest and leading company when it came to clean energy and there were more than a few companies that wanted a piece of that pie. It was to the point that right now SI was defending itself against accusations of theft of intellectual property in the form of the arc reactor from one of the more zealous companies.

Considering that the arc reactor was the main source of their clean energy initiative, this was a serious issue. Tony hadn't been too worried at first since it was his father that had originally come up with the idea for the reactor and he himself was the one to perfect it and make it work on a scale that was actually marketable. If it had just been a single individual claiming ownership over the original patented idea of the arc reactor then it would have been an easy open and shut case. The problem was that the individual claiming the theft of the intellectual property had been recruited by Hammer Tech and the rival company was throwing their time and their money behind the case creating a giant headache for Tony.

With so much on his mind, all Tony wanted in that moment was to leave his lawyer's office and head home where he didn't have to deal with any of this for a few hours. The only thing he was going to stop for between the office and home was to get himself a nice, juicy cheeseburger. After everything that he'd been dealing with Tony figured that he'd earned it.

Putting his car in reverse, Tony pulled out of his parking spot in the parking garage faster than he should have in his frustration. When Tony heard a loud thump of something hitting his back bumper he came to a screeching halt, his fingers tight on the steering wheel. Throwing the car into park, Tony was scrambling out of the car to see what he had just hit.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck," Tony cursed to himself. This was so not what he needed right now. "Please don't be dead. Please don't be dead."

Behind the car there was a man laying on the ground moaning quietly to himself. Tony took a moment to assess the situation before jumping in. The man was clearly tall so Tony wasn't sure how he hadn't managed to see him, ignoring the fact that he should have been paying more attention and not just assumed that there was no one around. There was a small pool of blood forming under the man's head almost hidden by his ink black hair and his left wrist was twisted at an awkward angle.

With an obvious head wound Tony didn't want to chance moving the man in case he also had some kind of neck injury. Dropping down to his knees by the man's shoulder, Tony's hands fluttered about as he tried to figure out what he should do to help. Happy had always insisted on Tony having at least some basic self defense training, he had never taken any first aid classes and he was feeling very out of his depths at the moment.

"Don't try and move," Tony urged, setting his hands gently but firmly on the man's shoulders so he wouldn't try and sit up. "You're hurt. I might have just hit you with my car but everything's going to be okay. I'm going to take care of everything. You just lay there and relax. It's all going to be all right. You're going to be okay."

The longer Tony knelt there the more anxious he became and the more he rambled.

"Do you always chatter so much?" came a strained voice.

Tony was drawn out of his rambling immediately and turned his attention to the man laying on the ground.

"Umm, when I'm nervous yeah I do," Tony answered honestly. "How are you feeling?"

The man's eyes cracked open in a weak glare giving Tony a glimpse of the green orbs but snapped shut again just as fast at the light. Tony waited as patiently as he could while the man tested his limbs and how they were feeling. After a moment of slight wiggling the man relaxed back onto the rough ground with a grimace.

"Besides general aches, my wrist is certainly broken. My head feels like it's been cracked open with a splitting headache and my eyes can't stand even the dim light in here. Probably a concussion but I don't believe I have any additional injury to my neck," the man reported out more matter of factly than Tony felt he'd have been able to do in the same situation.

Pulling out his cell phone Tony called for an ambulance, not willing to let the man leave on his own in the state that he was in. Tony reported the accident and the man's opinions on his injuries along with his own observations. After a few minutes of talking to the dispatcher an ambulance was on its way and Tony tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"So help is on the way. We just need to hang tight and wait for them," Tony said. "While we're waiting, I just want to say just how very sorry I am. I never saw you or I swear I wouldn't have hit you."

"I should certainly hope not," the man snarked, his eyes still firmly shut. "If you went around running over random pedestrians then you have a problem."

Tony was startled into a sharp laugh. The last thing he had expected was for the man that he had nearly run over to be trying to comfort him.

"You just must be special then," Tony teased back, unable to stop himself from flirting. Especially with someone that seemed just as comfortable with it. "Not sure how I could have missed seeing someone as handsome as you though."

The man tried cracking one eyelid open again to send Tony a glare that lacked any real heat. "Are you truly hitting on me after running me over with your car?"

"I suppose I am," Tony acknowledged. "I can stop if it makes you uncomfortable."

The man closed his eye again but raised his brows in what would have been an artfully careless motion if he hadn't been laying on the ground, injured in a parking garage.

"You may continue if you wish though I would like to know the name of the man that takes sweeping someone off their feet a little too literally," the man said.

Tony snorted at that. It had been a while since he'd spoken with someone that could keep him on his toes like this man was doing. The fact that he was managing to do so even with a likely concussion was even more impressive.

"Tony Stark at your service," Tony introduced himself. "I know it should go without saying but since I was at fault I promise I will take care of everything.”

The man hummed quietly. “I should hope so. I would hate for you to have gone to all this effort to get me on my back for it to go to waste.”

Tony gave another laugh. He did love witty and sarcastic men and this one was definitely fitting that category. If he hadn’t have almost run the man over Tony would already be trying to angle for a date by now. The only thing stopping him was that it would be wildly inappropriate to do that while the guy couldn’t think straight from hitting his head. That doesn’t mean that he was going to stop flirting however. He could always claim that it was to keep the man awake and talking until the paramedics got there.

“Oh I would never let such an opportunity go to waste. That would be a damn shame,” Tony joked. “Just so we’re clear though, if I ever managed to get you on your back again without the use of heavy machinery to do so, what name would I be calling out?”

It was the other man’s turn to laugh. “Loki. And before you say anything because everyone does, yes it’s after the Norse God. My parents are very into Norwegian folk tales.”

Tony smiled at the information. Loki was funny and interesting and they were barely doing anything. Tony was seriously wishing that he had met the other man under different circumstances. Maybe then he would have had a chance. As it was he kept up his side of the banter until the sound of the ambulance arriving came and he was ushered out of the way by the paramedics so they could see to Loki.

When the initial first aid that could be done on scene was finished and Loki was being loaded up into the ambulance Tony stopped one of the paramedics to find out which hospital they were taking him too. He needed to make sure that he knew which hospital’s billing department to go to in order to make sure that all of Loki’s medical bills came to him. The accident had been his fault and he wasn’t about to have Loki suffer any more than he already was.

Jumping back into his car, Tony looked around carefully to make sure that no one was behind him and pulled out of his spot. All thoughts of heading home were gone. Instead those thoughts were now consumed with the man that he had nearly run over. The man that, even when laying on the ground hurt, had joked and snarked with Tony without missing a beat.

A few stops on his way to the hospital and Tony was pulling into the visitor parking area of the medical establishment. Despite his best intentions, it had still taken Tony well over an hour to make his stops and get to the hospital where Loki was receiving care. Stopping at the information desk, Tony was able to find out from the receptionist that Loki had been admitted but was still being seen. It was another hour before Loki was allowed visitors but once he had Loki’s room number Tony thanked the receptionist and made his way through the hospital.

Finding the room didn’t prove to be too difficult and Tony paused in the doorway to observe the lone occupant. Loki was laying reclined back on his bed, wrist in a cast and a clean, white bandage wrapped around his head. His eyes were closed as he rested.

"Knock knock," Tony said softly as he knocked on the hospital room door and stepped inside. "I wanted to see how you were doing and to bring your these."

Tony held up the vase of flowers in one hand with a giant get well soon sign tucked between the stems. In his other hand he held up a bag that was emitting a mouth-watering smell even if the contents had gotten cold while he waited.

"I also brought some food since I figured you had to be hungry and anything had to be better than hospital food."

Before Loki had the chance to say anything his stomach let out a loud rumble giving light to the fact that he was indeed hungry.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Loki said out of sheer politeness but the smell alone had his mouth watering already.

Tony wasn’t about to let himself be put off and set the flowers down on a side table before taking a seat next to Loki’s bed and pulling out the burgers. Loki nearly ripped the paper apart to get to the burger inside. The burger was half gone in two bites and Tony watched on in amusement as he dug into his own meal.

“Cheeseburgers are my favorite comfort food when I need a little pick me up and I figured you could definitely use one with how your day has gone,” Tony said through his own mouthful of food.

Loki hummed in agreement as he finished the first and dug into his second burger, feeling it fill the emptiness inside his stomach and quiet the rumbling. This one he ate slower taking the time to enjoy the flavor and satisfaction that came from it. The two of them finished their burgers in companionable silence until their hunger was sated.

Unable to curtail his natural curiosity, Tony looked around the hospital room that Loki was currently residing in until his doctor was ready to discharge him. Overall the room was fairly bland with a telltale sterile smell that all hospitals seemed to have. There were a few generic pictures on the walls along with a whiteboard that had vital stats on it that Tony neither understood or cared much about; they weren’t any of his business and it was enough that he had put Loki in the hospital in the first place. He didn’t need to be looking over his medical records without permission.

The one thing that seemed missing however were indications that his family had been there to see him and the well wishes that they would have left behind. In fact the only thing that brightened up the room were the flowers that Tony had brought with him.

“So where’s the rest of your get well stuff? Don’t families usually bring in lots of flowers and cards and junk while you’re at the hospital or is that something they only do in the movies?” Tony asked looking around and only seeing the flowers that he had brought in with him. “I would have thought that they would have gotten here long before I did.”

Loki played with the edge of the burger wrapper not looking up to meet Tony’s eyes. “Yours are the only flowers that I have received,” Loki admitted. “I had a falling out recently with my parents and so haven’t told them that I am here.”

Tony frowned at that. He knew that he had a rocky relationship with his own parents but he couldn’t imagine having no one to tell if he was in the hospital. Pepper and Rhodey alone would throw giant fits if he got hurt enough to need to go to the hospital and didn’t let them know so that they could come in and see him and help him get better. It just made Tony sad that Loki apparently had no one like that to turn to for help.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tony offered knowing that there really weren’t words that could make anything better in that situation. “Is there anyone else? Any friends that I could get in contact with for you? I don’t like the idea of you being here all by yourself. Especially when it isn’t even your fault that you’re in the hospital in the first place.”

Loki shook his head and looked up to meet Tony’s gaze. “No. There’s no one that I want to contact anyway. Besides, I should be getting out of here soon anyway. It’s not that big of a deal.”

Tony frowned at the obvious dismissal of Loki’s injuries and the fact that there should be someone there to care for him. “It is a big deal,” Tony insisted, moving to take a seat on the edge of Loki’s bed. “If no one else is going to be here than I will be.”

The surprise that flashed across Loki’s face was there and gone in an instant but it was just long enough for Tony to see since he had been watching so closely.

“I realize that you are just trying to assuage your conscience since you are the one that caused my injuries but there really is no need for it,” Loki said, his voice taking on a chill that hadn’t been present before hand. “I assure you that I am not interested in your pity. Your feelings of guilt or lack thereof are not my concern. If that is the only reason that you are here then you may leave now.”

Loki turned his head to the side so that he wouldn’t have to watch Tony getting up and leaving the room. Time passed and there was no change in pressure on the bed to indicate that someone had gotten up from it. Eventually Loki couldn’t stand not knowing any longer and turned back to see Tony still sitting beside him with his own firm expression on his face.

“Ready to listen or do you need more time?” Tony asked, clear and cool, no indication of annoyance or preparation to leave. When Loki didn’t say anything Tony took that as permission to continue. “I get that when you’ve been shit on all the time that’s all you expect for everyone else to do. Why should this person be different than every other person that you’ve met? Well I’m not here out of guilt. Yes I do feel guilty for not paying enough attention and hitting you with my car but that’s not why I’m here now. I’m here because even laying on the ground, bleeding, and having every reason to be angry at me you joked around with me. You were smart and funny and I like that and wanted to get to know more about you. If you aren’t interested just say so and I’ll leave you alone but if you think I’m only here out of some misplaced pity then you can just think again because you’re wrong.”

All the time that Tony spoke his expression never wavered. He was firm yet caring and Loki was forced to admit that Tony was being completely sincere and he wasn’t sure what to do about it. It had been so long since he’d had more than mere acquaintances and actually had someone that he could call a friend, let alone someone that had the potential to be more if his memories of their flirting while waiting for the ambulance were anything to go by. It would be a risk to open himself up when even his own family couldn’t seem to understand him. There was no denying however that he’d had more fun with Tony in the past few hours than he’d had alone in the past few months. When it was put into perspective like that Loki couldn’t find a reason to turn the other man away.

“I demand a better venue for our next date,” Loki says in an imperious tone and Tony can’t stop the smile from breaking out on his lips. “And flowers that aren’t an apology for hitting me with your car.”

“Not so sure I can manage to get better than this,” Tony replies in a teasing tone. “Don’t you know, hospital chic is all the rage nowadays.”

Loki gave an answering smirk. Today hadn’t gone as either of them had planned but somehow they were both still making the best of it. Running someone over with your car wasn’t the typical how you met your significant other story but it was their story and one Rhodey would one day take great pleasure in retelling in his best man speech at their wedding.


End file.
